Well well well well well, paint me red and call me a girly scout. I've been saying for months now that there's much more collaboration between Apple and Microsoft than their respective fanboys want to believe, especially when it comes to fighting Google and Android, which both companies partly do via patent suits. More evidence for this has emerged today. Remember CPTN Holdings, the consortium led by Microsoft which bought that bundle of patents from Novell? Which other companies are part of this consortium? EMC. Oracle. Apple.

I have some important news for you. It's about those 882 Novell patents that are being sold to a Microsoft-organized consortium in connection with the sale of Novell to Attachmate. I've been worrying about those patents, and I was wondering what happens to Novell's license to the Open Invention Network after the sale. So I took the time to find out. And it's very good news.
Here's how it works. The patents of OIN members and licensees are licensed to each other royalty-free in perpetuity. Even on a sale, the license remains in force for all pre-existing members/licensees. If you are a member/licensee of OIN prior to the closing on the Novell deal, then, you are covered. The proposed closing date is January 23rd, so you still have time to join OIN and get the benefit of the license to those patents. Then, if Microsoft shows up at your door, you can say, "Thanks, but no thanks. I already have a license."

Google is a member of OIN. Therefore, Google already has a license for the 882 patents that Novell has sold.

Any company wishing to use Android simply needs to join OIN prior to january 23rd, and they too will have a license to the patents in question.

You misunderstand what OIN is (maybe Groklaw does as well, I can't say as I've not read their stuff).

OIN owns patents donated to it by it's members. It does not own or license all patents held by it's members. It's fair to say none of those Novell patents that were purchased are owned by OIN (otherwise they would not be Novell's to sell).

You misunderstand what OIN is (maybe Groklaw does as well, I can't say as I've not read their stuff). OIN owns patents donated to it by it's members. It does not own or license all patents held by it's members. It's fair to say none of those Novell patents that were purchased are owned by OIN (otherwise they would not be Novell's to sell). The patent list OIN owns is here ... http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/pat_owned.php ]{

OIN does own some patents in its own right (it buys them using donated funding).

The patents of OIN members and licensees are licensed to each other royalty-free in perpetuity. Even on a sale, the license remains in force for all pre-existing members/licensees. If you are a member/licensee of OIN prior to the closing on the Novell deal, then, you are covered.

OIN® grants patent license to licensee
– All OIN patents and applications for all products Licensee grants patent license to OIN®
– All licensee patents and applications for the Linux System Licensee grants license to other current and future licensees
– All licensee patents and applications for the Linux System

As far as I can tell, Wikipedia, Groklaw and the OIN all understand it fine, and it is you who have misunderstood.